IT COMES AT NIGHT

released OuT NOW! 15 | 91 minutes

Director Trey edward shults Cast Joel edgerton, Carmen ejogo, Christopher abbott, riley Keough Post-apocalyptic dramas are not, by their nature, joyous affairs full of dance numbers and belly laughs. But there is still entertainment to be mined, depending where they sit on the scale of, say, Threads to the more action-packed Children Of Men. It Comes At Night sits closer to the former.

It’s a low-key, low-budget affair, focused on Paul (Joel Edgerton), Sarah (Carmen Ejogo) and son Travis (Kelvin Harrison Jr), in the early stages of an unspecified apocalypse. Something has gone wrong, but we’re never told what – beyond the lingering fear of infection, seen initially through Sarah’s father. When another family shows up, tensions rise as they try to live together.

Director Trey Edward Shults keeps things tight and taut and lets mood and tone do the heavy lifting. Those lured in by the idea of a traditional horror movie be warned: the aim here is more to explore human behaviour in an extraordinary situation. The film’s sometimes so reluctant to provide answers that it becomes frustrating, and the grinding nature of the story quickly gets hard to handle. Some great performances can’t quite balance out the bleakness, and it’s more an endurance test than an entertaining night out. But It Comes At Night offers something different from the usual explosions or chase scenes.